Adam's Cast Removed

Adam got his cast removed. He had fractured his arm playing hockey 4 weeks ago.

Laughing because it feels so weird without the cast

Taking a picture of his arm with his phone

The Steps - DIY Failure and Redemption

The mortar on our front steps needed some patching and I decided to try to fix it myself

I read some stuff online and watched some videos and thought I was ready

Helen and Adam came out to assist

Surveying the terrible results

I spread the mortar on pretty thick thinking I would be able to sponge off the excess. That didn't work out so well. The mortar set up way too quickly and the excess didn't sponge off easily. It looked really sloppy when it dried. I also wasn't happy with the color.

Trying to chip away some of the excess

I didn't wear any gloves to spread the mortar and in the frenzy didn't realize the damage I was doing to my fingertips

It was like the nerve endings on every finger were exposed. I remember reading about the guys free climbing El Capitan and how they slathered their open cuts with Neosporin.

Having deep open sores on your fingertips is a real pain

It's been a couple weeks now and the deepest one has just about healed.

Trying to undo the DIY fail

I decided the best thing to do was to try and remove the new mortar. Thankfully I only did the bottom step. I tried all kinds of solvents to dissolve the mortar and nothing was really working. I spent some time researching masonry and learned some things. It seems like muriatic acid is the go to solvent, although  a lot people prefer newer less dangerous solvents.

Having never worked with muriatic acid, and not being the most careful person, I was reluctant. Then I learned that muriatic acid and hydrochloric acid are similar and that Lysol toilet cleaner contains some hydrochloric acid.

We had some Lysol toilet cleaner so I gave it a try. It worked pretty well! It wasn't like the mortar melted away, but it loosened up enough for me to get it off using some elbow grease. I also learned the trick of using stone to clean stone. I used an old paver to sand the mortar away. It took a few rounds of Lysol and scrubbing, but I finally got the mortar off.

The neighbors were a little curious to see me out every morning for a week at the crack of dawn scrubbing away at the steps. One lady was walking by and called out "they're clean - you can stop". I laughed and told her how I was having to undo a DIY fail.
 

The whole process felt somewhat rewarding despite the fact that I ended up right back where I started. I wish I could have avoided all the hassle, but I did some honest hard work and I learned some things along the way.

More Summer Fun

Adam is always asking to go to the international market

Some of his staples are fresh fruit, Takis, Mexican lollipops, pot stickers, Aloha Maid, and Ramune Soda

More salmon

Adam reluctantly parting with a few more toys for Goodwill

We had some fun and some tears reminiscing. I think he would like to be a kid a little bit longer. Me too.

Adam back from the emergency room the night before getting his real cast

Summer Fun

A hodgepodge of other things from the summer

On our summer trip Adam talked about getting fondue for dessert. He ended up not getting it, but Helen promised him that we would do a fondue night when we got home.

Me and my summer tennis team

Pretty sunset

Always something to fix around the house

The sprayer on our sink had been leaking for a while. The leak was small and above the sink so it wasn't an emergency, but we eventually got around to getting Delta faucet to send us a new sprayer (for free and great customer service). When I went to remove the old sprayer I couldn't figure out how to get it to release from the convenient quick connect connector. So, being the impatient person that I am, I burned the old connector off using a fire starter lighter. I didn't realize until too late that I also burned the male connector so the new sprayer wouldn't connect. We were headed out on our trip and I needed a quick fix so, of course, I duct taped it and for a day or two before our trip it seemed to work.

We had people watching Lulu while we were on our trip and I assume they used the sink to refill the water bowl, so it must have held up ok. Until we got home. The nightmare trip back with the flight delay, etc and not getting home until after 2 am also included Helen trying to use the sink and my quick fix coming undone so that water sprayed all over the inside of the cabinet. I had to clean that up and all I could think about was how the quick fix could have held for all that time and then broke as soon as Helen used the sink.

We went without use of the sink for a few days until Delta sent us a new connector piece. It's amazing what a difference the right cheap peace of plastic makes in the quality of life. 

Adam playing poker with Ryan and Dylan

Derek's Quadruped Robot

Derek built a quadruped robot over the summer

He ordered most of the servo's and other electronics and then printed the connecting components on his 3D printer

Working out the math - trigonometry comes in handy sometimes